Sunday Trends and Indexes 1/25 (NBA, NCAAB, NHL, Misc.)

[Udog]

NBA


Sunday, January 25

Updated
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Tips and Trends
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Dallas Mavericks at Boston Celtics [ABC | 1 PM ET]

Mavs: Dallas rebounded from its worst loss of the season with one of its most impressive wins, defeating Detroit 112-91 on Friday. The Mavs were led by Dirk Nowitzki's 26 points and will need more of the same against Boston. “When they play well, they’re really good,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers told said. “(Nowitzki) makes big shots, he’s a matchup nightmare every night. He still is a great three-point shooter but he’s playing more on the post and in other areas now.”

Mavs are 3-1 SU & ATS in their last 4 games overall.
The UNDER is 7-3 in Dallas' last 10 games vs. Eastern Conference.

Key Injuries - NONE

PROJECTED SCORE: 90 (UNDER - Total Play of the Day)

Celtics (-9, O/U 193): Boston will be going for its eighth straight victory on Sunday and has focused on defense to get the job done lately. The Celtics held Orlando to just 38.2 percent shooting in a 90-80 win on Thursday, snapping the Magic's seven-game winning streak. “Defense is our staple,” Boston leading scorer Paul Pierce said. “All year long, regardless of what the offense does, we’re going to depend on our defense night in and night out.”

Celtics are 6-1 ATS during their 7-game winning streak.
The UNDER is 7-2 in Boston's last 9 games overall.

Key Injuries - G Tony Allen (ankle) is OUT.

PROJECTED SCORE: 99



San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers [ABC | 3:30 PM ET]

Spurs: San Antonio brings a four-game winning streak into the Staples Center but will beginning a tough three-game road trip that continues with stops in Salt Lake City and Phoenix. The Spurs have won five of their last six road games but have lost five straight meetings with the Lakers at Staples. “This is going to be a tough schedule,” San Antonio point guard Tony Parker said. “You don’t want to get in that position where you lose the game before the road trip. Now we can focus and have a big game in L.A.”

Spurs are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
The UNDER is 12-3 in San Antonio's last 15 games vs. Pacific Division.

Key Injuries - NONE

PROJECTED SCORE: 97

Lakers (-6.5, O/U 202.5): Andrew Bynum is finally starting to show some of the promise that LA fans had hoped to see from him this season. Bynum may have been the missing link to an NBA title a year ago, and he is beginning to prove himself as one of the best young big men in the league. He has made 25-of-36 shots in the last two games, averaging 32.5 points and 14.5 rebounds. “If Andrew can continue to have that type of presence in the middle - no matter who the other team is - we’re going to be a much better team,” Lakers point guard Derek Fisher said. “He seems to just be getting more comfortable on the court, physically.”

Lakers are 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.
The UNDER is 7-2 in the last 9 meetings.

Key Injuries - G Jordan Farmar (knee) is OUT.

PROJECTED SCORE: 106 (Side Play of the Play)



Houston Rockets at Detroit Pistons [ESPN | 6:30 PM ET]

Rockets (NA): Houston could be without its top three scorers for the first time this season if Yao Ming's knee injury keeps him from playing. Yao has played in all but one of the team's games so far this season but was forced to leave in the second quarter of a 107-102 loss to Indiana on Friday after banging his knee. Luis Scola stepped up with a career-high 25 points, but it wasn't enough. “Those are three of our main guys, probably our three main guys,” Scola said. “So it is tough, but that’s the way it is. Injuries are part of the game. Everybody has them.”

Rockets are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 road games.
The UNDER is 15-6 in Houston's last 21 games vs. Central Division.

Key Injuries - C Yao Ming (knee) is day-to-day.
F Ron Artest (ankle) is OUT.
F Tracy McGrady (knee) is OUT.
G Luther Head (foot) is OUT.

PROJECTED SCORE: 90

Pistons (-2, O/U 181.5): Detroit is coming off a disappointing 112-91 home loss to Dallas on Friday, getting embarrassed on national television by playing very poorly defensively. The Mavs shot nearly 55 percent from the field and scored more against the Pistons than any team in regulation this season. “We couldn’t do anything in transition, because we never got any stops,” Detroit guard Allen Iverson said. “We just got outplayed on both ends of the floor.”

Pistons are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games overall.
The UNDER is 8-2 in the last 10 meetings.

Key Injuries - NONE

PROJECTED SCORE: 92


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[pm530]

NBA
Write-up


Sunday, January 25

Hot Teams
-- Celtics won last seven games (6-1 vs spread).
-- Lakers won 13 of their last 16 games. Spurs won last four games (2-5 vs spread in last seven).
-- Hawks won four of their last five games.
-- Rockets won six of last eight games, despite major injury issues.
-- Bobcats won five of their last six games (6-0 vs spread). Pacers are 7-2 vs spread in their last nine games.
-- Minnesota won eight of its last ten games.
-- Nuggets won nine of their last eleven games.
-- Warriors covered six of their last eight games.

Cold Teams
-- Mavericks lost six of their last eight games.
-- Suns lost five of their last six games.
-- Raptors lost seven of their last eight games. Kings lost last four games (1-3 against the spread).
-- Pistons lost eight of their last eleven games.
-- Bulls lost last four games, by 5-4-3-20 points.
-- Jazz lost their last two games, by 9-5 points.
-- Clippers are 2-14 in last 16 games (7-4 vs spread in last eleven).

Totals
-- Seven of last nine Celtic games stayed under the total.
-- Six of last eight Laker games went over the total.
-- Seven of last ten Atlanta games went over the total.
-- Over is 4-1-1 vs spread in last six Sacramento games.
-- Under is 12-3 in last fifteen Detroit games; four of last five Houston games went over. .
-- Last three Indiana games stayed under the total.
-- Five of last seven Minnesota games went over the total.
-- Over is 11-2-1 in Denver's last fourteen games.
-- Ten of last thirteen Golden State games went over the total.

Back-to Back
-- Hawks are 4-7 vs spread, Suns 3-6 if they play again the next night.
-- Kings are 6-1 vs spread on road if they played the night before.
-- Rockets are 3-2 vs spread if playing first of two consecutive nights on the road.
-- Minnesota is 7-5 vs spread if they play again the next night.
-- Jazz are 3-5 vs spread if they played the night before.
-- Clippers are 5-3-1 vs spread if they play again the next night.

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[pm530]

Six-pack for Sunday

Three highest rushing yardage games in Super Bowl history....

3) 166- John Riggins, Redskins vs Miami, 1983

2) 191- Marcus Allen, Raiders vs Washington, 1984

1) 204- Timmy Smith, Redskins vs Denver, 1988

Four highest passing yardage games in Super Bowl history....

T3) 357- Donovan McNabb, Eagles vs Patriots, 2005

T3) 357- Joe Montana, 49ers vs Bengals, 1989

2) 365- Kurt Warner, Rams vs Patriots, 2002

1) 414- Kurt Warner, Rams vs Titans, 2000

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[pm530]

Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Saturday.......

13) USC's Daniel Hackett will be an NBA player because of defense; he shuts down whomever he guards in the Pac-10. Plus, his dad was a real good player at Syracuse, in the pre-Big East 70's.

12) Colorado G Dwight Thorne II is a great-nephew of Ernie Banks.

11) ESPN's Jimmy Dykes points out that Mississippi State might be the skinniest team in America, with all five starters combined weight less than 870 pounds. They need to find the weight room.

10) Marquette doesn't practice foul shots, because coach Williams is of belief that foul shooting is mostly mental. We'll see what he does when he doesn't have senior guards-- younger kids need practice.

9) Ark-Little Rock is 7-2 in Sun Belt, but three of the wins came in overtime, another three by six or less points. Not much margin for error in these mid-major leagues.

8) Joe Dumars has a son who is a terrific guard and will be playing at South Florida next season, as Stan Heath tries to recruit his way out of the Big East basement.

7) Tried to find the Senior Bowl on TV, to check out some prospects for the NFL Draft, then I realized the game was on NFL Network, so I had zero chance to see it, so I went back to watching college hoop. At some point, the NFL is hurting itself with this silly dispute with the cable industry- even they need exposure for their product.

6) Brandon Jennings, the academic non-qualifier who went to Europe rather than play junior college or just sit out this season, complained that he's only been paid on time once this season by his European team. Sounds like a kid who'd rather be on a college campus.

5) Ed Conroy deserves consideration for regional Coach of the Year in the southeast; who is Ed Conroy? He coaches at Citadel, and he has Bulldogs at 10-10, 5-4 in Southern Conference, which is huge, since Citadel might be hardest Division I job in the country, with military aspect of school not exactly cohesive with building a winning team.

4) There are 17 teams left in country that are unbeaten in conference play; Butler and Siena (both 9-0) have most wins of the seventeen.

3) How about the week for Craig Robinson? After the inauguration, his Oregon State Beavers won at Cal as an 18-point dog, then went to Stanford and won as a 16-point dog. Thats a damn good weekend.

2) Put it this way, if you bet the Beavers both days, you covered the spread in the two games by a combined total of 53 points.

1) Cal Poly doesn't have famous coach, but they also won twice over weekend as a double digit underdog, beating Cal-Irvine, Cal-Davis.

Saturday's List of 13: Our college basketball List of 13....
13) Georgia Tech-- 0-5 in ACC, but they have three overtime losses. One of these years, they need an experienced point guard.

12) Arizona-- Whomever they throw a lot of money at this spring is going to face a massive rebuilding job, much like what Tom Crean is facing at Indiana. They'll be starting almost completely from scratch.

11) SEC East-- South Carolina's improvement makes the Georgia job a really tough one, since there are five very solid programs in eastern half of SEC. Looks like the Dawgs will changing coaches in March.

10) Kansas State-- Coaching 101-- If you're playing a team with four really good guards (Baylor) don't double their mediocre post player. Bears were 13-22 from arc in Manhattan, mainly because they stood on arc and took open shots all night.

9) St Joseph's-- They get credit for winning pair of OT home games in league play, but they led those games by 17-16 at the half. They're playing home games at Palestra this year because their gym is being refurbished-- could that be the reason?

8) DePaul-- Two losses to South Florida is inexcusable; they're -54 on boards in last three games. There aren't any kids in Chicago who can rebound? Why are they in the Big East anyway?

7) Northwestern-- Were 0-4 after blowing 13-point halftime lead to Purdue, but they've won two games since; would 9-9 mark in Big 11 give them their first-ever bid to NCAA tournament?

6) Northern Arizona-- They're just 5-13, 2-5 in a weak Big Sky, but Lumberjacks are Arizona's best shooting team; Arizona, Arizona St both shot under 30% in Wednesday night's brickfest in Tucson.

5) VMI-- Remember when they beat Kentucky early in the season? Seems like long time ago, because it was- well, the Keydets are 15-3, 7-1 atop Big South Conference, playing fastest-paced games in USA.

4) Cal State Fullerton-- They don't get on TV much, so laying an egg on ESPN2 Saturday had to hurt, but Titans bounced back by winning at Northridge Wednesday. Big West is very strange so far this year.

3) Yale-- Sits atop Ivy League early on with 2-0 mark after sweeping Brown for first time in many years. Its been fifty years since Yale made NCAA tournament; Cornell is the giant in their way.

2) Brown-- Speaking of which, how do you lose 52 years in a row to an Ivy League school, even if you are one too? Bears have dropped 52 straight visits to Princeton, which is really hard to believe.

1) Oklahoma State-- Scored 92-95 points in last two games, which is great; they lost both games at home, which isn't great.

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